When all
the mince pies have been pulled and the last cracker scoffed; when you’ve
poured yourself another stocking, settled down in front of a blazing turkey and need some Christmas entertainment, what could be better than the Cambridge Children's Literature Students'
Blog Christmas Quiz?

Answers on Christmas Day!

Part One – Incidental Christmases in Children’s Books

What's the title of the book and who's the author?

1. Some
pictures of Father Christmas in our world make him look only funny and jolly. But
now the children actually stood looking at him, they didn’t find it quite like
that.

2. “You
know the reason Mother proposed not having any presents this Christmas was
because it is going to be a hard winter for everyone; and she thinks we ought
not to spend money for pleasure, when our men are suffering so in the army.”

3. Written
in narrow, loopy writing he had never seen before were the following words:

Your father left this in my possession before

he died. It is time it was returned to you.

Use it well.

A Very Merry Christmas to you.

4. Perhaps
because they had been working so hard, Christmas day seemed the loveliest they
had ever known. Nothing was very different from other Christmases, but somehow
it seemed a particularly gay day. Their stockings bulged when they awoke, and
besides all the usual things in them, there were large white sugar pigs with
pink noses and wool tails.

5. As the
door opened, one of the elder ones that carried the lantern was just saying,
‘Now then, one, two, three!’ and forthwith their shrill little voices uprose on
the air, singing one of the old-time carols that their forefathers composed in
fields that were fallow and held by frost …

6. Those
who stay awake long enough are rewarded by a momentary sound that never fails
to draw a sharp intake of breath – the delicate tapping of hoofs descending on
roof tiles .… But sure enough, there he is, the reindeer with no name: enormous,
blind as a bat, sniffing under the TV aerial with infinite animal patience.

Part Two – Children’s Books with a Christmassy title or setting

Again, title and author? The last one is not a particularly well-known work, but there’s a good chance you can guess the author.

2. It came right down the chimney and into the
fireplace with a thump. “It’s Father Christmas!” cried one of the aunts. “No,
dear,” said the other aunt, “Father Christmas does not have a tail.”

3. “If
the fir tree is to be dressed as beautifully as possible, then it can’t be for
the purpose of hiding it. The idea must be to placate the danger in some way. I’m beginning to understand.”

5. “Can
you tell me why Christmas trees are never allowed any fun? Never allowed to
join in and dance? … Poor, poor little Christmas trees.”

4. Blooming
chimneys. Blooming soot. Blooming cats. Blooming cookers.

6. But it
was not Father Christmas. As the bells rang loud and clear, some lights appeared
over the wall of the Roman Camp. Loping towards them, seeming hardly to brush
the snow with their paws, came a magnificent team of harnessed lions drawing a
long sledge driven by a lady whose eyes shone like sparks of fire.

7. “Hark
at Ann,” said Benny. “Come on, Ann, stop dancing about and get to work. Look
you can hang some of this silver tinfoil in strips all over the tree… and after
that you can put bits of cotton wool on it here and there so it looks as if
snow has fallen on the branches.”

“Don’t
put the cotton wool on till I’ve clipped on the candles,” said Susan, busy
sorting out the clips. “You mustn’t put the cotton wool near the candles, in
case it catches fire.”